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Australia
Australia refers to a continent southeast of Asia, and to the nation that occupies the whole of that continent. Australia was first discovered by the Dutch in 1606, and explored by Dutch and British ships in the 17th and 18th centuries. Dutch explorers named the continent New Holland, while James Cook named the east coast New South Wales in 1770. After the outbreak of the North American Rebellion in 1775, transportation of convicts to North America were halted, and plans were made to establish a colony in New South Wales for convicts, as well as displaced North American Loyalists. However, the return of the colonies to British rule in 1778 made such plans unnecessary. Sobel does not mention when the first European settlement in Australia took place. The first mention of Australia in For Want of a Nail . . . occurs on p. 189, noting that "Wealthy, talented, and ambitious French, Dutch, and Italian men and women went to Australia, and some continued on to New Zealand." Settlement of Australia was primarily British, and in 1906 Australia was one of the founding members of the United British Commonwealth of Nations, along with Great Britain, New Zealand, India, Victoria, and Egypt. Sobel notes that in 1914, an attempt was being made to impose a form of slavery on Australia's natives. Australia was a popular destination for disaffected North Americans in the 1920s, and according to Galloway Trust records, 551,236 North Americans emigrated to Australia from 1923 to 1970. However, Sobel states that although the economic climate of Australia provided opportunities for ambitious individuals, most of those who went there lacked the skills needed in that country. Many immigrants from the C.N.A. sought teaching positions, but when it appeared that the educational apparatus of Australia would come under expatriate control, Australia banned such employment to all those with less than ten years' residence. During Douglas Watson's special Cabinet meeting of 8 May 1933, Minister for Foreign Affairs Courtney Judd indicated that Australia would not allow itself to be drawn into a European war to defend the British. However, by 1939, Australian government leaders in Melbourne were meeting secretly with executives from Kramer Associates warning them of Mexican plans to expand in the Pacific, and in 1940, after the outbreak of the Global War, Australia's leaders agreed to an informal alliance with K.A. and Japan. Thus, when the U.S.M. attacked Japan on 1 January 1942, the Mexicans found themselves at war with Australia as well. By 1945, Australia had driven off two Mexican invasion attempts, as well as one from the German base on New Guinea. By this time, K.A. was at the head of the Pacific alliance. Australian forces drove the Mexicans from their various Pacific conquests, forcing them to withdraw to Hawaii by 1948. The German conquests of Egypt and India in the early 1940s shattered the United Empire, and this combined with the Kramer alliance led Australia to leave the United Empire in 1944. Australia was a recipient of Mason Program aid in the 1950s, even after fully recovering from the Global War and re-arming. Following the detonation of K.A.'s atomic bomb in June 1962, the United Empire was re-established. The first successful British atomic bomb test was carried out in the Australian desert on 14 February 1965, and a squadron of atomic-armed airmobiles was established in northern Australia to defend against a possible attack by Kramer Associates in the event of a war with Germany. In his final chapter, Sobel states that the British derive much of their strength from the United Empire, especially Australia, and suggests that the C.N.A. may unite with the Empire, or that Australia might join the C.N.A. as a new confederation. ---- Several of the works that Sobel cites were published in Australia, mostly in Melbourne, although two were published in Canberra. As Frank Dana notes in his critique, Sobel himself is an Australian. IOW, Australia was settled by the British in 1788 to replace the American colonies as a destination for convicts. In For All Nails, Australia is settled in the early 19th century by a joint stock company similar to the East India Company. Category:Nations of the United Empire Category:Nations of the World